University of California President Mark G. Yudof moved on two fronts today (Tuesday, Nov. 22) to address policing issues in the wake of the pepper spraying of UC Davis students and other incidents involving law enforcement officers and protesters.

Acting in response to a written request from UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi, Yudof agreed to conduct a thorough review of the events of Nov. 18 on the Davis campus.

As a first step, Yudof reached out to former Los Angeles police chief William J. Bratton to undertake an independent fact-finding of the pepper spray incident and report back the results to him within 30 days.

Bratton, who also led the New York City police department, now heads the New York-based Kroll consulting company as chairman. He also is a renowned expert in progressive community policing.

“My intent,” Yudof said, “is to provide the Chancellor and the entire University of California community with an independent, unvarnished report about what happened at Davis.”

Assembly Speaker John A. Perez also had made a request to President Yudof and UC Regents Chair Sherry Lansing for an independent investigation.

Under the plan, Bratton’s report also will be presented to an advisory panel that Yudof is forming, again at Katehi’s request. The panel will consist of a cross-section of students, faculty, staff and other UC community members.

The advisory panel, whose members will be announced at a later date, will review the report and make recommendations to Chancellor Katehi on steps that should be taken to ensure the safety of peaceful protesters on campus. She will present her implementation plan to President Yudof.

On a second track, Yudof appointed UC General Counsel Charles Robinson and UC Berkeley School of Law Dean Christopher Edley Jr. to lead a system-wide examination of police protocols and policies as they apply to protests at all 10 UC campuses.

This effort will include visits to campuses for discussions with students, faculty and staff, and consultation with an array of experts.

The review is expected to result in recommended best practices for policing protests across the 10 UC campuses.

“With these actions,” Yudof said, “we are moving forward to identify what needs to be done to ensure the safety of students and others who engage in non-violent protests on UC campuses. The right to peaceful protest on all of our campuses must be protected.”

I assume that these people, listed below, arrested at this week’s Monday evening protest at or around the Big Four downtown San Francisco BART stations, have rap sheets that the SFPD and the BART Police know all about at this late date.

How many terrorists are on this list? How many murderers?

So BART, by now you should be well aware that you implemented your TASER policy in a poor fashion. Yes, you met the minimum hours of recommended training, just barely, but you screwed up other aspects of that program, right? (BTW, care to apologize for that sometime BART? It’s not too late.)

Anyway, you need to be extra careful about the things that you say these days, BART, right?

Because you’ve painted yourself into a corner at this point, and the only way out is for you to paint these hippies and art students and militant socialists as Madrid-style subway terrorists, you know, those people who literally used cell phones to kill, right?

So, are these arrestees Madrid-style subway terrorists?

I don’t know.

But you do.

Now, do I think that arrestees have a general right to resist arrest? No. And can I articulate facts about that evening in the defense of the BART Police? Yes. Nevertheless, this is Exhibit A in the case against BART and its half-assed TASER implementation:

So that’s at least one unlawful killing from Team BART. Compare that with the below.

[UPDATE: Whoops, apparently the Chronicle has two Andrew Rosses covering similar beats? Oh noes! Well, all the better. Speaking of mistakes, what are the odds that I’ll see a lit up snowflake on Market Street tonight? About 100%, based on the past two weeks’ observation. Oh well. Good thing those snowflakes don’t use petroleum-based electricity, huh?]

(Now, you give those limited column inches to somebody like C.W. Nevius to check in with 24th Street and what would you get? Well, maybe vitriol and emotion, and maybe that would be it. Oh well.)

Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with M&R together (a quarter mil. we have to pay for horrible, soon-to-be-cancelled Trauma, where the average worker, we’re talking median and mode here, makes rock-bottom minimum wage?), but they should let Andrew out of the bizness ghetto and allow him to run wild over any and all subjects of the day

And if you’re not boycotting, sign up for the store tour on Tuesday, October 6th:

Tuesday Tours: A Taste of Whole Foods Market

10-11am Please sign up in advance, but the tour is FREE and limited in size. | Details

Both seasoned shoppers and new customers can benefit from a guided store tour, especially with so many unique choices available! In this tour, we’ll showcase what we mean when we say we offer all-natural, real food, at the best possible price. This is your chance to ask, listen and learn everything you want to know about our market. Please sign up in advance, but the tour is FREE and limited in size.

And here’s the bacchanalia you were excluded from:

“We are eagerly awaiting our opening next week on Wednesday, September 30th ! We have been working hard and are so delighted that we’re almost there! Further, we feel incredibly grateful for the support, well wishes, humor, smiles and hospitality that our new community has shown us! As a very small token of our thanks, we’d like to invite you to join us at our very own “Whole Foods Market Tapas Truck” on Saturday, September 26th from 11a-2p (really it’s a Taco Truck, but we’ll be serving Spanish Tapas—but you can’t miss it in our parking lot.)Marketing Team Leader
Whole Foods Market, Noe Valley”

This is a special invitation ONLY event for our neighbors in the associations that we have been working with.

Have a look at the attached & either print a copy of this to bring with you or contact me so that I can get you printed copies that I have here at the store.

First of all, Garamendi called for the end of the two-thirds supermajority requirement to raise taxes in California. Then John called for support of an oil severance tax, namely AB656 from Assemblymember Torrico.

Now let’s hear from Sandra Faber, chair of the astronomy and astrophysics department at UC Santa Cruz. She talked about just paying out $150k in retention bonuses for three valued U.C. employees.